


The Fight Against The Pharmaceutical Monopolies

by bosco_xvi



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Mild Language, Poisoning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-20 06:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22179778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bosco_xvi/pseuds/bosco_xvi
Summary: Singed is an alchemist who, in a way, minds his own business—until his amorality is put in check when confronted with a market injustice, and he finds himself having to take drastic measures.
Kudos: 6





	The Fight Against The Pharmaceutical Monopolies

**Author's Note:**

> This was written all the way back in 2017, so excuse the lack of care with Zaun/Piltover dynamics. It is also translated from portuguese, hence strange wording at times.

Singed was deeply annoyed with the noise in Zaun.

It's not that he didn't like a bright city full of life, if you can call Zaun that. See, kids screaming when you want to sleep late at night sure is awful, but that was no time for sleeping and neither did people really come close to his laboratory; the one thing bugging his mind is the new residents.

As much as he isolated himself in his lab, it did not stop him from being up to date with the latest gossip, mostly because he must assure he continues doing as he may(that's number one reason, of course). Nevertheless, they were just so exaggerated about the entire affair you would hear about it even if you didn't want to: these self called patrons of science were willing to pay ridiculous amounts of cash to get themselves certain preference when it comes to public concessions and a loose overseeing for their workplace safety.

Funny though, at this point people don't really care about workplace safety, and public concessions are already settled. Supposedly money buys everything, though it can't win from some sorts of threats.

Either way, word was they might get a small scratch, or otherwise just go private and hope for authorities' support, which is essentially the same thing except not official. This shouldn't be a problem to Singed; what is he, some sort of knight for the weakling unnable to fight the oppression of monopolies? No, that sounds like something that Viktor dude would say. Singed just wanted to do his business.

And that can't be done if these new residents in town work in the pharmaceutical industry and plan to obliterate the presence of his current provider, with whom he obtained very generous discounts after some unfortunate events. Most of all, he got hydrochloric acid as if it were water—on a second thought, a bad metaphor—, and those bastards(according to his thorough research) were selling it in Demacia for a price over 20% greater than the official price of his providers; it was simply outrageous and a disrespect to all his fellow scientists out there!

Exactly for this reason, Singed invited them for a friendly dinner.

Singed could seem like an unpleasent person to eat with, or so was he told. Was it his intelligence that made people uncomfortable? Maybe his chit chat was a bit too serious for them? He sought the latest news, the smallest little insignificances that could come up a zaunite's mouth, so the whole exchange didn't have to be monotonous, however people just didn't appreciate his effort.

One thing that would stand out was his food. It wasn't bad actually, even good. Singed had many uses to chemistry in his life, even if he didn't mention his culinary talents; sometimes a little calculated help is all you need to get it right. He hoped it was enough to keep his guests entertained in case his opinions on the meaning of the search for the philosopher's stone didn't.

They arrived at 6:32PM.

Celev was trying his best to hide his discomfort while laying his eyes over every inch of the facade; Zanquir actually succeeded in it, even if he was a little too still.

"Welcome to my humble residence, gentlemen!", said Singed, with a customer-service voice. "Make yourselves at home." He stepped aside, opening way for them to enter. They stood in silence for a long second before coming in.

"Wonderful place you've gotten yourself here, sir", commented Zanquir. He had also looked at Singed's own formal clothing with certain surprise; somewhere in his mind, the thought of a scientist looking quite tidy escaped him. "Not exactly the fashion back in our homeland, yet the exotic aspect is what makes it, isn't it, Celev?"

Zanquir turned his face to a confused Celev, still trying to compute the situation. Zanquir stared harder.

"Y-yes, it's... it's really interesting." His partner's eyes left him.

"I do like my decoration, yes. I opted for keeping the concrete walls as they were instead of painting to give a more solid feeling, if you understand what I mean." Zanquir hummed in something like acknowledgement. "I'm also fond of my table. You might not notice it in the midst of other furniture, but having it here reminds visitors I like to get straight to the point."

Neither Zanquir nor Celev laughed at Singed's joke; the table was, in fact, of considerable size, allowing an adult to lay down over it and still have spare room. There were exactly 3 chairs available, one at the far end and the other two close by each side.

Even though he didn't usually use the chairs—the table's size was perfect for quick experiments and inspections, and he didn't get to host many parties—, they were actually made together and the shapes molded into the metals all match. Singed cleaned them and even remade the room's arrangement to muster away cabinets with potentially frightening work instruments, bringing foward shelfs with books and other documentation, which where just slightly less frightening.

The fact the room's illumination relied on potent, fluorescent tubes added to the uninviting environment.

"You may sit down. I'll bring in the appetizers and drinks." Singed left them and followed down the constrastingly dark hallway.

The table was already set up; nothing ridiculously fancy but again more than expected. The more the two man looked around the hostile setting, lacking in anything that resembled a living or dining room, the more unbelievable it was. The interior in fact fitted very well the shady front of the laboratory, absent of windows or common lights.

Zanquir and Celev sat down in front of each other and didn't move their eyes in any other direction. Their tongues held themselves as well as possible, afraid of how much their host could hear.

Singed's return was like a storm. "Our traditional fried _ablota_. Some would say it's like regular meat, but sweeter." He placed a dish covered with breaded sticks, filled with whatever animal that was. Along came a generous serving of a dark blue sauce. "Color is artificial, merely a convenience. This should enhance the overall experience, more so if the _ablota_ isn't quite to your tastes."

He then again returned to whatever was his kitchen to bring a jar of water and another with something looking like wine. "I imagined you wouldn't want to get too adventurous all at the same time, so I opted for more known drinks for starters." The two guests set their eyes on Singed's hands wrapped in layers of patches as they put the jars over the table.

Singed sat down at the head of the table and measured no efforts in immediatly getting his hands on one of the sticks and dipping it in the sauce. "So tell me about your work, gentlemen. I'm aware of your birthplace and work field, but none of the juicy details." He bit the fried _ablota_ and chewed happily.

Celev took a deep breath and decided he couldn't stay shut forever. "Our interest in the field only appeared later in life—we wanted to help in our own ways, even if we don't quite have the abilities to directly contribute."

"Some are born geniouses. We can't all be like you, can we?" Zanquir attempted at a joke, a nervous smile cracking.

Singed laughed humorously. "Yes, you really can't be."

Celev shrugged and grabbed a stick for himself while an incredulous Zanquir followed his moves. "We hoped to extend our services to Zaun as well. We already have a good name among demacian citizens and thought this should be accessible to all." Zanquir sometimes wished he could sound as ingenuous as he relutantly poured wine.

Singed's bite was now accompanied by a slightly louder sound. "I didn't find any registers of your company in Piltover."

"Let's be honest, it's not where our services are needed, are they?", Zanquir replied, praying that Singed was reasonable enough not to take it as an insult.

"Nor where they'd be allowed", Singed added, as he finished his stick and grabbed some water. Zanquir and Celev were wise enough not to deny how much looser safety measures and overseeing were in Zaun—or how much cheaper they were.

"I— _we_ believe—that you, as a renowned scientist, must know better than us what the community craves for," started Celev once again, "especially the specific needs of the pharmaceutics of Zaun."

It was beyond Singed what in the world made that man think he would have such knowledge.

"If it is of interest that I aid them, I have some ideas to contribute." At this point Singed was already munching on another stick. "Do you intend to keep expanding you presence? Ionia is quite the spot."

"I don't believe we'd have much luck there. Apparently their medicine has taken its own path, associated with nature, spirituality and the whole baggage." Zanquir seemed annoyed, though Singed didn't suggest Ionia as a consumer market.

"I thought we could enforce products over consumers nowadays—I'm kind of dissapointed we don't have this power yet", Singed said with a laugh, followed by the other two. A good joke is an understood one.

Zanquir finally decided to take a stick, but had a bite without the sauce before dipping into it almost immediatly. He searched for his glass with his free hand, having one last gulp before emptying it. He reached for the jar of wine when Singed stopped him, putting his hand over and making his long, long fingers more apparent, and one patch slipped to show what looked like a first-degree burn.

"I feel like it's appropriate time to introduce you to the one zaunite drink I spoke of, so maybe save the wine for later?", he suggested, without leaving much choice. Zanquir and Celev nodded and Singed got up to wherever the food expected for them.

They now waited with certain antecipation, causing Celev to get up and help Singed with one of the three cups he carried as soon as he reappeared from the shadows. The cups contained a very light green liquid with foam on top.

"It's much less exotic compared to the _ablota_ sticks", he said as he put down Zanquir's and his own cup. "Good thing is you can have it nearly any time of the day." He started drinking before both of them, and made a satisfied sound.

Celev followed along, with an even more positive reaction. "Now this is just marvelous!", he said as he drank and finished his cup quickly.

Zanquir tasted it and approved. "Tea sellers will have to change products real quick when people hear of this", he teased.

"Believe me, teas never really had a place in Zaun." None of them combined the mild taste with caffeine like Zaun did with that drink. "I can bring the jar, if you wish to have some more..?"

"Absolutely", both man agreed.

Singed emerged with a smaller jar compared to the water and wine ones. "I didn't expect it to be more than a little luxury, so there isn't much to it. I insist my guests have it, of course."

By then, Zanquir had finished his cup, and Singed served them both and returned to his own cup, which he didn't fill as he had barely drank.

Zanquir and Celev drank with a smile, but had to hold themselves not to spit it out when a burning sensation flooded their throats and led them to coughing. "Sure this is the same thing now?", Celev asked, confused.

Zanquir seemed much more uncomfortable and wasted no time in drinking water straight from the jar, leading only to a greater irritation.

"What the _fuck_ is this", Celev got up and asked, while Zanquir fell to the ground like he had taken a blow, lacking air.

"Take a fucking _sip_ , babes", Singed replied as he raised his cup high and then drank from it.

"Why the _hell_ would you even _do_ that?", Celev insisted, his throat on fire. Singed laughed.

"You _animal_ ", Zanquir tried shouting from underneath, sounding more like a groan. He tried forcing himself to vomit, and started straight up screaming from the burning running through his throat again.

"You're a _psycho_ or something?!" Celev finally stumbled, holding onto the chair not to fall. "Why would you do that?"

"You're dumb or something? Thought you knew who I was when you stepped in here, considering you make assumptions about my work", Singed answered, and Celev fell to the floor. "I did it because my middle name is Market Regulation and my last one is Mad Scientist Stereotype, you little bitch."

Celev didn’t like that answer, as all of them don't, and he and Zanquir managed some screaming before making a mess out of his freshly mopped floor.

"See you tomorrow on the actual lab, test subjects G-11 and D-4!" Singed smiled and waved them good night, before the sight made him annoyed.

_Good thing they ate few of the breaded sticks_ , Singed thought, _because I didn't have a main dish for my own dinner_ _tonight_.


End file.
